The present invention is a device to support and drive a winding bar or a tube-shaped spindle, in order to roll or unroll bolts of fabric.
One already knows such previous devices which consist of bearings, each containing a rotating shaft in the fixed casing and equipped, at its end, with a seat which has a hollow impression in a non-cylindrical shape complimentary to that of an end of a winding bar which is placed there, as well as a moving piece designed to cover the end in order to support the seat. The winding bar or the model are also mounted, by their ends, in the bearings, the shaft of one of which is capable of being moved in rotation. The mobile piece is generally in the shape of a wheel, capable of tipping over, being moved axially and the maneuvering of which is created manually.
It was proposed to automate the maneuvering of these devices such as that described in document GB925755, to allow the automatic winding of strips of material, rolled or not, on a model in the shape of a hollow axle and able to be measured by the function of the size of these strips. It contains a first bearing and a second bearing, each containing, in a fixed casing, a shaft mobile in axial translation, the shaft of the first bearing being moved into rotation in the casing by a motor. In the interior of the sleeve, the shaft can move axially all the while being linked in rotation while the shaft of the second bearing is mounted in fixed rotation. The end of each shaft has the form of a truncated cone allowing it, from contact under pressure on the end of the corresponding hollow axle, to butt up against the shaft to the first bearing and second bearing and to link the shafts in rotation. Second, the device contains an expanding spindle of the type in such a way that a bobbin containing a model in the shape of a tube, which can be arranged and supported due to the expansion device. The shafts are each moved by means of a mobile piece in the fixed casing by a pneumatic jack located on the exterior of the fixed casing and linked to the end of the rod by means of a small connecting rod to the mobile piece.
All the while, the complex structure of this type of device does not allow easy dismantling of the bearings, which makes maintenance difficult and costly. Also, because of the fact that the mechanical connection between the shaft and the rod of the pneumatic jack is placed outside of the casing, dust enters the interior of the casing, which necessitates frequent dismantling of the bearings for cleaning, augmenting the cost due to the time of maintenance.
It would be desirable to remedy these inconveniences by proposing a device which holds and supports a winding bar or a tube-shaped spindle, in a new arrangement which allows easy and rapid maintenance, and optimization of the rolling and unrolling operations of bolts of material.
The device to support and drive of a winding bar or tube-shaped spindle according to the invention contains a first bearing and a second bearing, each made up of a fixed casing in which a shaft that can move axially and has an end designed to butt up against one of the ends of the winding bar or the spindle, the shaft of the first bearing being wound in rotation by means of a sleeve rotating in the casing by means of a motor and the inside of the sleeve can move the shaft axially all while being led in rotation, while the shaft of the second bearing is mounted in free rotation and is characterized by each fixed casing being in the form of a cylindrical casing of a jack in the watertight chamber, which can move, under action of a fluid, a piston attached coaxially to the first bearing or the guided shaft and such that the cylinder casing is adjusted at one end in a manner allowing extraction of the end of the shaft.
In accordance with the invention, the piston is attached to a tubular element axially crossed by the shaft, which is mounted in free rotation in the element by means of rollers and attached to the shaft by axial translation, the guide in axial translation in the cylinder casing of the tubular element being maintained by means of sliding, interposed between the internal face of the casing and the external face of the tubular element.
In a preferred method of production, the means of sliding situated adjacent the watertight chamber are made up of a sliding ring wedged in a holding clip fixed to the lower end of the casing between a stop segment housed in a groove made in the internal wall of the cylinder casing and an annular stop closing the lower part of the watertight chamber.
In order to dismantle the bearing, it is sufficient to lift the stop segment and to remove, by the face of one end of all of the shaft, a support clip of the sliding ring, the annular stop, and the tubular element. The assembly and dismantling of the elements of a bearing according to the invention are made, thus, much more quickly and more easily performed than with devices having existing bearings.
The engagement of a winding bar at the ends of the shafts can be created either by association of a projection and an aperture, the shaft of the bearing and the winding bar containing the means of connection in rotation designed to cooperate between them, or by insertion of pins, attached on the perimeter of the face of the end of the shaft or the winding bar in the housings pierced in the face of the bar or respective shafts. The projection and aperture are, preferably, in the shape of a truncated cone or square.
For a truncated cone aperture, the means of connection in rotation consists of the grooves of mesh permitting the linking, in rotation, of the end of the shaft with the end of the winding bar while the two ends are introduced with respect to each other.
In the case of a truncated cone aperture, the aperture will consist of an inner face rounded in such a manner as to facilitate extraction of the corresponding projection.
The square projections will be surrounded by a cylindrical clip in order to form a space between them and the projection designed to tightly receive the face of a corresponding aperture, in order to radially block the projection in the aperture cutting out the play of the existing radials.
The butt joint of the ends of tube-shaped spindle to the ends of the shaft will be produced, preferably, by means of an expandable mechanical head.
The winding shaft can, preferably, contain, at its engagement with the winding bar, an interchangeable tip allowing adaptation of the shafts to all types of winding bars or a tube-shaped spindle, the tip being associated to a means of attachment to the end of the shaft and to the means of connection in rotation with the shaft.
In a preferred method of production, the tip will be of a cylindrical form and will be designed to be introduced in a complimentary structure in the end of the winding bar.
The attachment of the tip in the shaft can be produced, for example, by screwing a screw axially crossing the tip in the bottom of the shaft while the connection in rotation of the tip with the shaft will be able to be produced due to the pins which will be, for example, placed on all or part of the periphery of the face of the shaft in order to engage in the hollow pierced for this purpose in the internal face of the flange.
In the case of engagement with a spindle, the tip is made up of an expandable head by means of a key moving radially against the internal face of the end of the spindle. under the effect of the progress of the shaft.